Shoe sewing machine



Aug. 24, 1943. I ASHWQRTH 2,327,387-

SHQE SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 19, 1942 I 2 Sheets-rSheet l gA/TU Aug. 24, 1943. F. ASHWQRTH 2,327,381

SHOE SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 19, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 AWE/W05;

Patented Aug. 24, 1943 SHOE SEWING MACHINE Fred Ashworth, Wenham, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machiner ton,

y Corporation, Fleming'- N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application February 19, 1942, Serial No. 431,482

2 Claims.

It is desirable in shoe sewing machines that means be provided whereby the machine may be brought to rest at the end of a seam without injury or shock or jar when certain of the parts are in predetermined positions. A means by which this result has been accomplished in a satisfactory manner comprises a construction and arrangement of parts whereby at the completion of the sewing operation, certain of the operating parts are disconnected from the driving shaft of the machine when they reach a certain position and thereafter the driving shaft is permitted to make an indefinite number of revolutions and come gradually to rest.

The object of the present invention i to provide a shoe sewing machine of this character with simple and efiicient means by which a moistening apparatus for a welt being sewed in the machine may be controlled so as to insure proper tempering of the welt while the machine is sewing a seam and'to prevent overmoistening any portion of the welt while the stitch forming and work handling devices are at rest between sewing operations.

A satisfactory type of welt moistening apparatus which has heretofore been used on certain types of sewing machines comprises a receptacle for moistening liquid and welt guidingmeans for directing a welt strip into and out of the moistening liquid during its travel toward the sewing point, and to prevent the welt from being completely saturated or over-moistened-while no work is being sewed on the machines, means have been provided in these machines for moving the welt into and out of the moistening liquid as the driving or sewing shaft has been started or stopped.

The present invention contemplates the use of a welt moistening apparatus of the general type above referred to and in order to embody the apparatus in a machine in which the driving or sewing shaft is not stopped at the end of a' seam but is permitted to continue to rotate through an indefinite number of revolutions after certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices have ceased to operate, the invention is embodied in a construction in which the welt guiding means is moved to and from a position in which the welt is immersed by connections actuated from the mechanism by which certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices are rendered operative and inoperative at the beginning and end of the sewing operation.

The present invention is herein illustrated as embodied in a shoe sewing machine of the Mo- Kay type provided with treadle controlled mechanism for connecting and disconnecting the sewing shaft and certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices including the needle and feed point.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the upper portion or sewing head of a McKay lockstitch shoe sewing machine provided with means for guiding a welt strip to the sewing point and with a moistening apparatus for moistening or tempering the welt; Fig. 2 is a detail plan View of the connections for controlling the welt guide of the moistening apparatus; Fig. 3 is a view on an enlarged scale in front elevation of the head of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a detail view in side elevation looking in the opposite direction from Fig. 1 of a portion of the mechanism through which certain of the operating parts of the machine and more particularly the needle and the feed point are connected to the sewing shaft at the beginning of a sewing operation and are disconnected from the sewing shaft when the sewing operation has been completed.

Except for the welt guiding and moistening means, the machine illustrated in the drawings is the same in all essential particulars as the lockstitch McKay shoe sewing machine fully illustrated and described in the patents to Ashworth No. 1,914,936, dated June 20, 1933, and No. 1,925,- 513, dated September 5, 1933. The welt moistening apparatus illustrated in the drawings is substantially the same as that disclosed in the patent to Ashworth No. 1,981,940 dated November 27, 1934.

The straight hook needle of the iilustrated machine is indicated at 2, the reciprocating needle bar at 4, the shoe supporting horn at 6, the presser foot at 8, the feed point at IU, the bobbin case at H and the shuttle at l4. For a full description of the construction and mode of operation i of these parts, reference may be had to the patcnts to Ashworth hereinbefore referred to Nos. 1,914,936 and 1,925,513.

Certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices of the illustrated machine, and more particularly the needle and feed point, are actuated from the sewing shaft through connections which may be rendered inoperative'at the end of a sewing operation so that these parts may be brought to rest while the sewing shaft is permitted to make an indefinite number of revolutions before cominggradually torest. These con nections between the sewing shaft indicated at l6 and the needle and feed point are the same as in the machine of the Ashworth patents above referred to and comprise a crank pin IS on the sewing shaft, an actuating lever provided with a suitably shaped cam slot 22 engaged by the crank pin iii, a motion transmitting lever 24 mounted beside the lever 20, a link 26 connecting the lever 24 with a block 28 fast on the needle bar 5, a pin 30 at the outer end of the motion transmitting lever 24 and a lever 32 having a vertical arm provided with a cam slot 34 engaged by the pin 3!], and connections from the lever 32 to the feed point.

To permit the connections above described be.- tween the sewing shaft and the needle and feed point to be rendered operative and inoperative,

the actuating lever and the motion transmitting lever 26 are connected by means comprising a latch 35 pivotally mounted at the outer end of the lever 24 and arranged to engage a pin 33 projecting from the outer end of the lever 20. So long as the, latch 36 is in engagement with the pin 33. the lever 24 is driven from the lever 26 and during the oscillations of the lever 29, the needle and feed point are actuated. When, however, the latch 35 is swung out of engagement with the pin 38, the motion transmitting lever 2-4. is disconnected from the lever 20 and the lever 29 can oscillate without imparting any movement to the needle and feed point. A spring surrounding the pivot of the latch 33 tends to force the latch 35 into engagement with the pin 38.

The mechanism for controlling the movements of the latch 3% to connect'and disconnect the needle and feed point from the sewing shaft comprise what may be termed a locking lever pivotally mounted concentric with the feed point actuating lever 32 and provided with a slot 42 engaged by a roll on the same pin 38 which engages the slot 3A in the feed actuating arm 32. The slot :2 is offset to the right at its upper end, as shown in Fig. 3, so that when the pin 36 on the lever 25 is at the upper end of the slot, the lever 24 being in its highest position, the locking lever to is permitted an oscillating movement limited by the ends of the offset portion of the slot. The upper end of the locking lever is provided with a pin 45 which, during the oscillating movements of the lever id, is arranged to ensage and disengage an upwardly projecting portion of the latch 35. Movement of the locking lever to its extreme position to the right, as viewed in Fig. 3, removes the pin 45 from engagement with the arm of the latch 36 and permits the latch to engage the pin 38 on the actuating lever 20, thus locking the levers 20 and 24 together and rendering operative the connections through which the needle and feed point are actuated from the sewing shaft. Movement of the locking lever to to its extreme position to the left, as viewed in Fig. 3, brings the pin 44 into en agement with the upwardlyprojecting arm of the latch and moves the latch out of engagement with the pin 38, thus disconnecting the lever 26 from the lever 2e and at the same, time locking the lever 2 in its highest position.

At itslower end, the locking lever 49 is provided with a horizontally extending arm which is connected by a vertical link 45 to the forward end of a lever arm 48 pivotally mounted upon a 'cross shaft 59 and acted upon by a spring 52 coiled around the shaft and having one end connected to a collar secured to the shaft and the other end bearing on the lever. The arrangement of the spring 52 is such that when allowed to act, it exerts an upward pull on the link 46 and tends to swing the locking lever 4E! to its extreme right-hand position. Thus, when the spring 52 is allowed to act, the levers 2i] and 24 are connected by the latch 38, rendering operative the connections through which the needle and feed point are actuated from the sewing shaft. To move the locking lever 62 in a direction to disconnect the levers 29 and 24 and lock the lever 24 in its highest position, the cross shaft 59 is provided with the rearwardly extending arm 55 (see Fig. 4) having a lug 56 projecting laterally beneath a rearwardly extending arm of the lever 48 and a heavy spring 58 (see Fig. 1) is coiled around the end of the shaft 58 remote from the arm .43 and has one end connected to the shaft and the other end bearing on the machine frame. The arrangement of the spring 58 is such that when allowed to act, it turns the shaft 59 in a direction to bring the lug 55 into contact with the rearwardly extending arm of the lever 48 and moves the lever 48 against the tension of the spring 52 in a direction to force the link 46 downwardly and move the locking lever 19 in a direction to disconnect the lever 24 from the lever 26 and lock the lever 24 in its highest position, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

To control the movements of the shaft 56, a treadle rod 60 is provided Which, at its upper end, passes through a block 62 pivotally mounted in the outer end of the arm 54 and is provided with nuts above and below the block 52. With this construction and arrangement of parts, upward movement of the treadle rod causes the lug 56 to be brought into engagement with the lever 48 and through the connections described, actuates the locking lever 40 to render inoperative the connections through which the needle and feed point are actuated from the sewing shaft while the downward movement of the treadle rod moves the lug 55 away from the lever 43 and permits the lever through the action of the spring 52 to move the locking lever to in a direction to throw the connections for actuating the needle and feed point into operation. If desired, the treadle which actuates the treadle rod 66 of the illustrated machine may also be used to control the main driving clutch of the machine, as in the machines of the Ashworth patents above referred to, sufiicient lost motion being provided between the treadle rod and the arm 54 of the shaft 59 to permit the treadle to be used in this manner.

As has been stated, the welt moistening apparatus which has been applied to the illustrated machine is substantially the same as that disclosed in the patent to Ashworth No. 1,981,940. The liquid containing receptacle indicated at 64 is supported on a fixed bracket 66 by means of, a vertical supporting post 63 engaging a split clamp formed on the base of the receptacle and an adjusting screw l0 mounted in a lug on the bracket 68 and engaging a downwardly projecting boss at the end of the receptacle remote from the split clamp. The welt guide indicated at 72 is constructed as fully described in Ashworth Patent No. 1,981,940 and is secured to a carrier H mounted on a vertical post secured to the base of the receptacle 54.

The particular form of apparatus illustrated in the drawings is adapted to moisten the grooved edge only of the welt, the welt guide 72'. being shaped and the welt guide carrier l4 being positioned so that only a portion of the welt at the grooved edge is immersed while the rest of the welt remains above the surface of the moistening liquid. With this form of moistening apparatus, it is especially desirable that the welt be out of contact with the moistening liquid at all times except during the sewing of a seam. To enable this result to be secured in a simple and efficient manner in the illustrated machine, the mechanism hereinbefore described for rendering the connections through which the needle and feed point are actuated from the sewing shaft operative and inoperative is utilized to move the welt guide carrier to and from a position in which the welt is immersed to the desired extent. To this end, an arm 16 is rigidly secured to the shaft 50 of the mechanism through which the connections for actuating the needle and feed point from the sewing shaft are rendered operative and inoperative and the outer end of this arm 16 is connected through a vertical rod and horizontally arranged lever to the welt guide carrier 14 of the welt moistening apparatus. The vertical rod is indicated at 18 and the horizontal lever is indicated at 80,

the lever as illustrated in Fig. 2, being pivotally mounted at its rear end on the bracket 66 and having a pin and slot connection at its forward end with the welt guide carrier 14 and the vertical rod 18 bein connected at its upper end to the outer end of the arm 16 and at its lower end to a point midway between the ends of the lever 80. V

The welt strip indicated at 82 passes from the source of supply upwardly to the rear end of the welt guide carrier 14, then horizontally through the welt guide 12 between the rolls 84 and 85 at the forward end of the moistening apparatus,

then horizontally to a vertically arranged guide roll 88 at the front of the machine, around the roll 88, and through guides 90 and 92 tothe welt guiding means indicated at 94 on the presser foot.

The moistening apparatus is supportedon the bracket 66 at a height to cause the grooved edge of the welt only to be immersed in the moistening liquid while the machine is sewing a seam, the arm 15 hereinbefore described as forming a part of the connections between the shaft and the welt guide carrier 14 at this time being in its lowest position and being held in this position by the engagement of the nuts on the treadle rod with the arm 54 on the shaft 50. At the conclusion of the sewing operation, the shaft 50 is released by the upward movement of the treadle rod 60 and when the shaft is rotated by the spring 58, as hereinbefore described, which rotation is completed as the connections for actuating the needle and feed point from the sewing shaft are rendered inoperative, the welt guide carrier 14 is lifted by the action of the arm 16, rod 78 and lever so as to withdraw the welt from the moistening liquid. The welt guide 76 remains in this position with the welt out of contact with the moistening liquid until the machine is again thrown into operation and the needle and feed point are connected to the sewing shaft.

The nature and scope of the present invention having been indicated and a construction embodying the invention having been specifically described, what is claimed is:

1. A shoe sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and work supporting and feeding devices, a sewing shaft and connections for actuating the stitch forming and work feeding devices, means for guiding a welt to the sewing point, a welt moistening apparatus comprising a liquid containing receptacle and a welt guide movable to and from a position in which the welt, while being fed to the sewing point, is immersed in the liquid in th receptacle, mechanism acting, when operated, to render the connections to certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices operative and inoperative, and a connection from said mechanism to the welt guide for moving the guide to a position in which the welt is immersed when said mechanism operates to render. the connections to certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices operative and for moving the Welt guide from the position in which the welt is immersed when said mechanism operates to render the connections to certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices inoperative.

2. A shoe sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and work supporting, and

feeding devices, a sewing shaft and connections for actuating the stitch forming and work feeding devices, means for guiding a welt to the sewing point, a welt moistening apparatus comprising a liquid containing receptacle and a welt guide movable to and from a position in which the welt, while being fed to the sewing point, is immersed in the liquid in the receptacle, mechanism acting, when operated, to disconnect certain of the stitch forming and Work feeding devices from the sewing shaft, and connections from said mechanism to the welt guide for moving the guide from welt immersing position when said mechanism acts to disconnect certain of the stitch forming and work feeding devices from the shaft.

FRED ASHWORTH. 

